Current Actions

The City of Portland is appealing U.S. District Judge Michael Simon's court order, which requires the City to appear at annual hearings assessing implementation of the Settlement Agreement between the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the City of Portland. The Settlement Agreement seeks to address allegations that the Portland Police Bureau has engaged in a pattern and practice of excessive force against community members with mental health issues or perceived to be in mental health crisis.

While the City claims the appeal seeks "clarification" on the "frequency, scope, procedure, and evidentiary burdens" that the Court can apply in those hearings -- including what evidence can be brought forward by the parties, including the Portland Police Association and the Albina Ministerial Alliance (AMA) Coalition for Justice and Reform -- the paperwork filed clearly shows the City intends to challenge the Judge's authority to hold those hearings at all and to ask questions about implementation of the Agreement.

Sign our petition calling on the Portland City Council to Rescind The Appeal!

If the Council is truly committed to reform and accountability, an annual hearing with Judge Simon is essential to rebuilding trust with the the citizens of Portland.

This week's Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision sets a dangerous precedent, by allowing certain corporations to impose their religious beliefs on their employees, or to use religion to discriminate against certain employees.

Stand with Basic Rights Oregon against any attempts to allow corporations to discriminate. Add your voice to the chorus of Oregonians who say discrimination has no place in our state.

Anti-gay extremists are targeting Oregon, pledging to use their secret money to stop us from winning the freedom to marry. In a fundraising email, the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announced the creation of the “Win More States Fund” and specifically described it a “vehicle to allow us to devote even more resources to the cause” of excluding loving and committed couples in Oregon from the freedom to marry.

Sign our pledge to tell anti-gay extremists to stay out of Oregon.

NOM is the national organization that runs the campaigns to exclude loving and committed couples from marriage. NOM parachutes into states with bundles of cash, often spending millions of dollars attacking our families.

As Oregonians, we believe in treating others as one would want to be treated, and that that includes allowing civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Gay and lesbian couples want to marry for similar reasons as anyone – to make a public promise of love, responsibility and lifetime commitment, to stand in front of family and friends, make a lifetime of commitment, and share the joys and sorrows that life can bring. None of us would want to be told it’s illegal to marry the person we love.

Tuition Equity (Senate Bill 742) is simply a matter of ensuring that every Oregonian who wishes to pursue an education is able to do so free of unfair treatment and discrimination. This legislation will make it possible for every Oregon student to pay in-state tuition, regardless of their immigration status.

The bill would capitalize on the taxpayer investment in K-12 students and move engaged young immigrants toward citizenship, and will boost the education level of the workforce in Oregon.

The Oregon State Senate voted 18 to 11 to pass Senate Bill 742, Oregon's Bipartisan Tuition Equity Bill. The bill is now awaiting approval from the Oregon State House of Representatives.

We need to take action immediately to ensure that your State Representative signs on to the discharge petition for Tuition Equity.

Although calling their office is the best method to contact your State Representatives, please feel free to use our online form below to sign on to the petition that will be delivered to them. Enter your zip code, and the online form will appear and once completed, will be sent to your individual Representative.

“Our campaign was like a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda” -Scott Lively

Send a Clear Message to Scott Lively and equality opponents . . .

Sign our petition today to stand with the gay and transgender community in Uganda and send a clear message to Scott Lively and U.S. anti-gay activists: “Stop Exporting Hate!”

In 2009, Lively, along with two other American equality opponents s, were featured speakers at a three-day “gay agenda” conference in Uganda where he made direct parallels between gay and lesbian people and the Nazi movement. Lively claimed “homosexuals are so far from normalcy that they are killers…they are serial killers….they are mass murderers…they’re sociopaths.”

Scott Lively is a former leader of the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance, the anti-gay organization responsible for proposing the failed Measure 9 initiative that would have amended the Oregon Constitution with a provision that the state establish homosexuality “as abnormal, wrong, unnatural, and perverse."

A month after his visit to Africa and with the drafting help of the conference’s organizers, a Ugandan politician introduced “The Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009,” that would punish homosexual behavior with the death sentence.”

Thanks to the leadership of Oregon’s fair-minded elected officials, Oregonians are protected from employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. But not every state benefits from those protections.

In 30 states, it is perfectly legal to fire an employee simply because of their sexual orientation. And in 38 states, it is legal to fire employees solely because of their gender identity or expression. According to a recent survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, an astonishing 97% of transgender Americans have experienced discrimination or harassment on the job.

That’s why every state needs the non-discrimination protections we have here in Oregon.

Thank Oregon’s Representatives & Senators for their support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, share why non-discrimination matters to you, and ask them to make ENDA a top priority today.

The time has come for elected leaders to empower all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. We call on the Obama administration to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Everyone should have the opportunity to make a lifelong commitment to the person that they love and be married.

Sign the petition to urge the Obama administration to repeal the so called Defense of Marriag Act.